Twice Star-Crossed Lovers
by SopranoWithAnIdentityCrisis
Summary: We all know what star-crossed lovers are. But what about the ones whose then ill-fated endings are changed for a second time? Oneshot. Definitely AU. I have no idea whether this is good or not- I'll just have to wait and see.


Beckendorf woke up in blazing heat underwater. He squinted at the window across the room, not sure he was seeing right, but that was definitely water outside. He was lying on a very large bed, even by his standards. His first conclusion was giants, but why would giants give him a bed? Or heal him, for that matter? He didn't feel great, but surprisingly good for having been in an explosion.

The noise outside the door was giving Beckendorf a headache, or rather making his existing headache even worse. A familiar roaring sound, people shouting interchangeably in Greek and English, and metal clanging against metal. Beckendorf started to put the pieces together. The last thing he remembered was detonating the bombs on the Princess Andromeda. That had been in the middle of the ocean, and now he was underwater in a forge- the Cyclopes' forge. Things would be much easier now. All he had to do was find Poseidon, who would send him back to camp.

Wait- _camp_. Percy would tell them about the Princess Andromeda. He would tell _Silena_. And of course he would be presumed dead. He had to get back before that happened. Ignoring the sudden dizziness as he stood up, he jumped off the bed and ran out the bedroom door and down a hall, following the sounds of the forge.

Before Beckendorf could do anything else but stare at the size of the forge, one of the Cyclopes marched over and slapped him on the back, almost knocking him over. "Good! You are better!" he announced with a huge grin. "I pulled you in the window!"

"Hello, Tyson," Beckendorf said, steadying himself against the wall with one hand. The Cyclops's sudden greeting had made him a little dizzy again. "Listen, I need to see Poseidon-"

"Down that hall," Tyson instructed, pointing to the other side of the room, "and turn left. He is planning, ah, battle plans. Say hello to Percy!"

Beckendorf nodded, not even waiting to reply before taking off. He skidded to a stop at the door of Poseidon's office, taking a moment to catch his breath before knocking.

"You know how many swords we need, I've told you five times already," a voice called irritably from inside the room. "You Cyclopes never listen!"

"I'm not a Cyclops, sir," Beckendorf called back.

Poseidon opened the door and studied Beckendorf for a second. "Ah, yes. You need transportation back to camp." He retreated into his office, leaving Beckendorf standing awkwardly in the door, and came back with a pearl. "Break that and you will end up in the canoe lake," he directed. "You should be on your way." And before Beckendorf could even thank him, Poseidon closed the door and went back to conferring with his generals.

* * *

After coming out of the canoe lake, soaking wet, of course, the first place Beckendorf went was his cabin. It must have been late afternoon, because no one was outside except for a few satyrs. Everyone was probably relaxing in their cabins, he told himself. No need to panic. But his theory fell to pieces when he found no one in his cabin either. Now he was sure something was wrong.

As he started toward his bed for his spare sword, a voice from behind him shrieked, "BECK!" He jumped and whirled around as a shape flew toward him from one of the top bunks and tackled him like a monkey.

Beckendorf chuckled and tousled the little boy's hair. "Did you miss me, Harley?"

Harley nodded vigorously and started talking at breakneck speeds as Beckendorf set him down. "Nobody else don't know nothin' because they all said you died but you can't die 'cause you're Beck! And they don't know nothin' either because they all went off without me because they said I'm too little to fight in the battle! I'm pretty good at fighting, Nyssa said so, but now she says I can't fight because I'll die, but she lets me play capture the flag and she says the Ares guys are always trying to kill us! And if you get killed then you die! And-"

"Whoa, slow down," Beckendorf ordered. "What battle? Where did they all go?"

"To the gods' house, and the Ares guys wouldn't go because they were mad at the Hermes guys about their flying car-"

"Chariot," Beckendorf corrected.

"Okay, chariot, because the Hermes guys stole it, and Clarisse went off to fight some monsters in the woods, she said it was 'cause I made her mad but she couldn't kill _me_ , but then she came back and told them all to come! And they flew off in their chariots and it was awesome! And then Chris came back right after that and him and Clarisse flew off in their other chariot and that was weird because Clarisse was yelling at him that he was driving wrong. And then right after _that_ you got here."

Beckendorf was completely lost, especially since it sounded like Harley was describing two different Clarisses, but that would have to wait. "So, this battle. Did Silena go?"

"Yeah. And she cried a whole bunch because Percy said you died. Her eyes were this red!" Harley pointed solemnly at his shirt. "I'm gonna volperize Percy when he gets home."

" _Volperize_?"

"What's that thing Clarisse always says she's gonna do to Percy?"

"Pulverize?"

"Yeah, that. I'm gonna pulv'rize Percy when he gets home. 'Cause you're my brother, and Silena's your girlfriend, and that means she's my..." Harley paused with a comically thoughtful expression. "Step-sister-in-girlfriend!" he finished triumphantly. "So she's mostly my sister, and that means I volperize, I mean, pulv'rize, people who make her sad."

"Very noble of you," Beckendorf agreed, pulling his sword out from a compartment in his bed. In the time Harley had been talking, he had found all his spare armor, hidden in various places to protect against Hermes campers, and put it on. "I have to go to the battle now, they'll probably need me."

"Can I go? Please?" Harley begged, giving Beckendorf his best pleading puppy face. "Please? Please? Please? I won't die, I promise!"

Beckendorf sighed. He, like most of the other campers, couldn't say no to Harley, which was the reason his youngest brother was allowed to call him Beck. "Okay. But you have to do what I say and stay out of the actual fighting. Help the medics or something."

Harley nodded importantly. "I can make the hurt people laugh and they'll get better faster! So let's go!"

* * *

Beckendorf soared over Manhattan astride the last pegasus in the stables, Harley with his arms around his waist in a death grip and yelling "This is so awesome!" with an occasional, "I'm gonna die!" thrown in. Even from a hundred feet up, the battle did not look good. The Empire State Building was surrounded by demigods, who were surrounded and outnumbered by monsters.

He landed in front of the Empire State Building, where he turned Harley over to the guards. One of them directed him to the Plaza Hotel, their base and makeshift hospital, and he ran off happily.

The other guard, a tall, blonde Hermes girl, stared at Beckendorf like she'd seen a ghost, which he supposed made sense. "You're Beckendorf. The one who blew up the Princess Andromeda and died in the process."

"I didn't die. Long story," Beckendorf answered impatiently. "Where is Silena?"

"Long story," the girl returned mischievously. "But I'll cut it short. She went back to try and convince Clarisse to come and kill the drakon."

"What drakon?"

"The one Kronos sent that only an Ares kid can kill. And judging from that awful noise..." She jerked her head in the direction of a roaring sound that would have been deafening in close quarters. "Clarisse just killed it. Which means Silena is probably over there. Just look for the big dead drakon. You can't miss it."

Beckendorf jumped back on his pegasus, calling, "Thank you!" back over his shoulder as he took off.

* * *

He landed near a group of Ares campers who were muttering among themselves. They kept glancing over at another knot of people, huddled around something on the ground that Beckendorf couldn't see.

He tapped the nearest Ares guy on the shoulder. "What's going on?"

The boy looked shockingly upset for a son of Ares. "Silena Beauregard stole Clarisse's armor and led us into battle. We thought it was her, and she tried to kill the drakon, and... Wait, are you Beckendorf?"

Beckendorf didn't wait to hear any more. He was already pushing past Percy and Annabeth, both of whom looked like they were going to faint at the sight of him.

Clarisse was on the ground with Silena in her arms. Beckendorf could tell at a glance what had happened. The drakon's poison must have caught her directly in the face.

He knelt at Silena's other side. Clarisse looked up, and her mouth fell open. "How- what-"

"Why aren't you taking her to a medic?" Beckendorf demanded. He lifted Silena from the ground easily and stood. "I'm going. Explain everything to me later."

"Beckendorf?" Annabeth called after him.

He looked back without stopping. "Yes?"

"Come back here after you take her to the medics. There's... something you should know."

* * *

Silena's eyes fluttered open. The first thing she saw was a familiar face hovering over hers. That made sense. She was dead. Of course he would be there, because now she had followed him.

Then she realized that she should have found herself in Charon's office when she died. She had to get in his boat and cross the Styx. She'd have to be judged before she ended up in Elysium- assuming that would have even happened, which it most likely would not. So why would he be here? Unless he had come out of Elysium to wait for her- but was that even possible? And how would he have known?

"Where am I?" she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

Beckendorf took her hand in both of his. "The infirmary. Silena, what in the name of Hephaestus were you thinking? Will is sure you would have died if I had gotten you to him two minutes later."

Silena sat up, leaning back against her pillows. "They would never have listened otherwise. And only one of them could kill it."

"Yes, but it almost killed you. Silena, please promise you'll never do something like that again."

Silena shook her head. "No, Charlie. You can't trust me. I'm a traitor."

"No, you are not. I know why you did it. It isn't your fault Luke didn't keep his promises."

"I should have known. I almost got you killed. I don't even know how you can be alive."

"I was pulled in Poseidon's window."

Silena almost smiled. "Were you?"

"Yes, I was. Now listen. I've known you too long not to see right through you." Beckendorf held up a hand as Silena showed signs of interrupting. "You're going to leave as soon as you're strong enough. I can tell you right now that isn't going to happen."

"Why-" Silena took a deep breath, trying to hold her tears in. "Why would you still-"

Beckendorf cut off the rest of her sentence by leaning down and kissing her.

Thankfully, before she could disgrace herself, at least in her own eyes, by crying, Clarisse appeared on the other side of the bed. "All right, lovebirds, this isn't where you lovebird! There are other sick people in here, you know!"

Silena laughed, as Beckendorf contented himself with kissing her on the cheek.

Another girl came up next to Clarisse and said, with her nose in the air, "Chiron said I should come and say hello to you. Hello. I saw you kissing, by the way. Are you _ever_ going to dump him? _Really_ , Silena! You're a daughter of Aphrodite. You could do _so_ much better."

Clarisse clenched her fists. "Drew Tanaka, _what_ I would do to you if Silena wasn't sitting right here."

"Can I volperize her, Clarisse, pleeeease?" Harley chimed in, tugging on Clarisse's sleeve and holding up one of his infamous exploding sawtooth Frisbees.

Clarisse raised an eyebrow. "You know what, kid? You can help me _pulverize_ her, okay?"

Harley gave Drew an adorable but scary evil grin. "We're gonna volperize you!" he proclaimed, ignoring Clarisse's correction. "Better watch out!"

Drew opened her mouth to scream, but Will Solace glared at her and put a finger over his lips. She retreated outside and then screamed, running for her life toward the Aphrodite cabin, with Clarisse and Harley in hot pursuit.

"That was interesting," Silena remarked, watching her half-sister's attempts to evade her pursuers.

"Quite," Beckendorf agreed. "Now, where were we?"

"Who else knows?" Silena asked, half dreading the answer. "If I stay I don't want to be the one who betrayed the camp."

Beckendorf counted on his fingers. "Just the five of us, other than you. The four you told plus me. None of them blame you, by the way."

Silena sighed in relief. "Good. And none of you will tell?"

"I'll make them all swear on the Styx if I have to," Beckendorf assured her. "Now, there's a big celebration tonight, so you should get some rest. Do you want me to take you back to your cabin?"

Silena nodded gratefully, accepting the hand he was offering to help her up. "Thank you, Charlie."

When they reached the Aphrodite cabin, Beckendorf stuck his head through the open door and shouted, "All right, everyone, Silena needs to rest, so don't bother her, all right?"

The campers filed out, Drew giving Beckendorf a contemptuous glance as she passed him. All of them but her hugged Silena before scattering in various directions.

Silena slipped her arms around Beckendorf's neck and stood on her toes to kiss him. But she nearly jumped out of her skin when all her sisters said, "Aww!" from behind her. She turned around, and they all threw flowers (goodness knows where they had gotten those) at her.

"Why is there always someone watching?" Beckendorf complained.

"Because they," Silena replied, nodding at her giggling sisters, "are always spying on every love affair that goes on. Being head counselor, I don't have time for doing that."

"But you don't try to stop them either," Beckendorf pointed out.

"True. As long as it isn't _my_ love affair."

* * *

That night, the whole camp gathered behind Percy and Annabeth with unlit torches, spying on them from the shadows around the pavilion. Clarisse let them kiss for about two seconds before announcing, "Well, it's about time!" The eavesdroppers suddenly lit their torches and surrounded the couple.

"Oh, come on!" Percy complained. "Is there no privacy?"

Clarisse grinned, a nice evil grin, if there was such a thing. "The lovebirds need to cool off!"

"The canoe lake!" both the Stolls yelled at once.

Everyone lifted Percy and Annabeth onto their shoulders, carried them off to the lake, and threw them in, then stood around the dock waiting for them to come up. Except Beckendorf and Silena.

Because _this_ time, there was no one around to see them kissing.


End file.
